Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a quartz watch movement, and more particularly to a quartz watch movement which eliminates a clutch lever and a handsetting middle wheel.
Description of Related Arts
Quartz watches are popular because they have advantages of providing accurate time, having aesthetic appearance, and eliminating mechanical operations of the winding device for the mechanical watches. Since the quartz watch generally comprises a motor, a gear mechanism, and other circuit components installed inside a shell body, the inner space of the shell body is compacted. Therefore, many watch manufacturers try to improve the existing quartz by fully utilizing the limited space inside the quartz watch, reducing components inside the quartz watch, minimizing the abrasion on the watch movement parts, and developing more features of the quartz watch, as the major concerns in the R&D watch industries and as the development directions for the public, and especially for the development a second-hand stop clutch mechanism.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, 4, and 5, the conventional second-hand stop mechanism comprises a stem 7, a clutch lever 8, a second-hand stop electrode 82, a minute wheel 2, a second wheel 1, a third wheel 4, an intermediate wheel 5, a handsetting wheel 61, a main plate 92, a top plate 91, and a control circuit board. During the normal operation, the second wheel 2 is driven by an electric motor to transmit the power to the minute wheel 2 and the hour wheel through the third wheel 4, so as to drive the minute wheel 2 and the hour wheel to rotate. When adjusting the time of the quartz watch, the stem 7 is pulled out to move the clutch lever 8 to contact with the second-hand stop electrode 82. At the same time, the third wheel 4 is driven to move to disengage with the minute wheel 2 or the handsetting wheel 6 is driven to move to engage with the handsetting middle wheel 61. Meanwhile, the second wheel 1 is stopped to move by the motor. Accordingly, an outer handle end of the stem 7 can be rotated to rotate the minute wheel 2 through the handsetting wheel 6, the handsetting middle wheel 61, and the intermediate wheel 5, or through the handsetting wheel 6 and the intermediate wheel 5, to adjust the minute and hour wheels correspondingly.
Accordingly, the clutch lever 8 is actuated to perform two different operations in each actuation, i.e. to drive the rotation of the second wheel 1 and to engage the third wheel 4 with the minute wheel 2 (or to disengage the handsetting wheel 6 with the handsetting middle wheel 61), or to stop the rotation of the second wheel 1, and to disengage the third wheel 4 with the minute wheel 2 (or to engage the handsetting wheel 6 with the handsetting middle wheel 61).
There are two configurations for the existing second-hand stop clutch mechanisms.
1. The second-hand stop clutch mechanism without handsetting middle wheel:
Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 of the drawings, the piece gear of the third wheel 4 is meshed with the axis gear of the second wheel 1, and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 is meshed with the piece gear of the minute wheel 22, wherein an upper shaft portion of a shaft of the third wheel 4 is disposed inside a shaft hole of the top plate, and a lower shaft portion of the shaft of the third wheel 4 is disposed inside the shaft hole of the clutch lever. The second-hand arm 81 of the clutch lever 8 is connected to a front end of the stem 7, i.e. the winding stem, and the axis gear of the handsetting wheel 6 is meshed with the piece gear of the intermediate wheel 51, and the piece gear of the intermediate wheel 51 is meshed with the axis gear of the minute wheel 21, so that the axis gear of the minute wheel 2, the piece gear of the minute wheel 2, and the minute wheel tube 23 are connected with each other to form a whole clutch system.
During the normal operation, the stem 7 is arranged inside a shell body of the quartz watch, and a front end of the stem 7 is pressed against the second-hand stop arm 81 to force the clutch lever 8 being detached from the second-hand stop electrode 82. The second wheel 1 is driven to rotate by the motor, and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 is meshed with the piece gear of the minute wheel 22. At the same time, the power generated from the second wheel 1 is transmitted to the minute wheel and the hour wheel through the third wheel 4. When adjusting the time of the quartz watch, the stem 7 is pulled out, and then the front end of the stem 7 is coupled by a shaft sleeve of the handsetting wheel 6. So, the second-hand stop arm 81 is not supported by the front end of the stem 7 to displace the clutch lever 8. As a result, the second-hand stop arm 81 is contacted with the second-hand stop electrode 82. Under the control of the control circuit board, the second wheel 1 will be stopped to rotate by the motor, and at the same time, the clutch lever 8 will move to disengage the axis gear of the third wheel with the piece gear of the minute wheel 22. The outer handle of the stem 7 is then rotated to adjust the minute and the hour hand through the handsetting wheel 6, the intermediate wheel 5, and the minute wheel 2. Due to disengagement between the third wheel 4 and the minute wheel 2, the gears connected between the piece gear of the minute wheel 22 and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 will not be easily damaged by a resistance from the second wheel 1 while adjusting the time of the quartz watch.
2. The second-hand stop clutch mechanism with handsetting middle wheel:
Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, and 5 of the drawings, the piece gear of the third wheel 4 and the axis gear of the second wheel 1 are meshed with each other, and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 and the piece gear of the second wheel 22 are meshed with each other. An upper shaft portion of a shaft of the third wheel 4 is disposed inside a shaft hole of the top plate 91, and the lower shaft portion of the shaft of the third wheel 4 is disposed inside the shaft hole of the main plate 92. The clutch lever 8 and the handsetting wheel 6 are coupled on the stem 7. The axis gear of the handsetting wheel 6 is meshed with the piece gear of the handsetting middle wheel 61. The piece gear of the handsetting middle wheel 61 is meshed with the piece gear of the intermediate wheel 5. The piece gear of the intermediate wheel 51 is meshed with the axis gear of the minute wheel 1, so that the axis gear of the minute wheel 2 and the minute wheel tube 23 are connected with each other to form a whole clutch system. The minute wheel tube 23 and a minute wheel gear 3 are flexibly and rotatably connected with each other.
During the normal operation, the stem 7 is arranged inside the shell body of the quartz watch, and the clutch lever 8 is dis-connected with the second-hand stop electrode 82 to drive the handsetting wheel 6 being dis-meshed with the handsetting middle wheel 61, so that the second wheel 1 is driven to rotate by the motor. At the same time, the power generated from the second wheel 1 is transmitted to the piece wheel of the minute wheel 22 through the third wheel 4. Since the handsetting wheel 6 and the handsetting middle wheel 61 are not meshed with each other, the intermediate wheel 5 and the handsetting middle wheel 61 are connected with the axis gear of the minute wheel 2 under a low resistance condition. Since the minute wheel gear 3 and the minute wheel tube 23 are flexibly and rotatably connected with each other, the minute tube 23 is driven to rotate by the minute wheel gear 3 to active the normal operation for the minute hand and the hour hand under the flexibility property between the minute wheel gear 3 and the minute wheel tube 23. When adjusting the time of the quartz watch, the stem 7 is pulled out that the handsetting wheel 6 is moved by the clutch lever 8 to closely contact with the front end of the stem 7. At the same time, the axis gear of the handsetting wheel 6 and the piece gear of the handsetting middle wheel 61 are meshed with each other. The clutch lever 8 is then moved to link with the second-hand stop electrode 82. Under the control of the control circuit board, the second wheel 1 is not driven to rotate by the motor, and the outer handle of the stem 7 is rotated to transmit an adjusting energy to the minute wheel tube 23 through the handsetting wheel 6, the handsetting middle wheel 61, intermediate wheel 5, and the axis gear of the minute wheel 2. Since the minute wheel tube 23 and the minute wheel gear 3 are flexibly and rotatably linked with each other, and the piece gear of the minute wheel 22 and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 are meshed with each other, the minute wheel gear 3 is stopped by a resistance from the third wheel 4 and the second wheel 1 during the time adjusting of the quartz watch. The flexible force between the minute wheel gear 3 and the minute wheel tube 23 is overcome by the axis gear of the minute wheel 21 following by the rotation of the intermediate wheel 5, so as to drive the rotation of the minute and hour hand. Therefore, the connection portion between the piece gear of the minute wheel 22 and the axis gear of the third wheel 41 will not be damaged due to the resistance from the second wheel 1 after completing the time adjusting of the quartz watch.
The above mentioned second-hand stop clutch mechanisms have the following drawbacks:
1. In view of the first configuration of the second-hand stop clutch mechanism, the second-hand stop electrode 82 and the clutch lever 8 are contacted with each other via a touch contact, so that the second-hand stop electrode 82 will be polluted and oxidized after a period of time. In this situation, the electrical connectivity between the second-hand stop electrode 82 and the clutch lever 8 will gradually loss its function, and then the third wheel 4 will be moved inclinedly during the time adjustment of the quartz watch (while the stem 7 is pulled out, the lower shaft portion of the third wheel 4 will be inclined due to the displacement of the clutch lever 8). At the same time, the piece gear of the third wheel 4 and the axis gear of the second wheel 1 are meshed under an abnormal situation, so that the connection portion between the axis gear of the second wheel 1 and the piece gear of the third wheel 4 will be damaged by the non-stop rotation of the second wheel 1.
2. In view of the first′ configuration of the second-hand stop clutch mechanism, the third wheel 4 will be inclined due to the displacement of the clutch lever 8 during the time adjustment of the quartz watch. After the time adjustment thereof, the third wheel 4 is re-engaged with the second wheel 1 and the minute wheel 2. During the long-time operation, the upper and lower shaft portions of the third wheel 4 will be deformed due to the frequency of the inclined operation of the third wheel 4, so as to decrease the reliable and time accuracy of the quartz watch.
3. In view of the second configuration of the second-hand stop clutch mechanism, the handsetting middle wheel 61 is installed between the handsetting wheel 6 and the intermediate wheel 5, so that the manufacturing cost of the quartz watch is increased.
4. In view of the first and second configurations of the second-hand stop clutch mechanisms, both of the first and second second-hand stop mechanisms require the clutch lever 8 for operation.